2024 Portland E-Prix II

2024 Portland E-Prix II
The Portland International Raceway would host two races in 2024
Race Information
Date	30 June 2024
E-Prix No.	130 (14 of 2023/24)
Official Name	2024 Hankook Portland E-Prix
Location	Portland International Raceway, Portland, Oregon, USA
Format	100 km / 75 min
Lap length	3.190 km (1.982 mi)
Distance	26 (+1) laps / 86.161 km (53.519 mi)
Support Race
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Jean-Éric Vergne
Team	DS Penske
Time	1:08.779 (168.592 km/h)
Fastest Lap
Driver	Robin Frijns
Team	Envision Racing
Fastest Lap	1:10.650 on lap 26
ePrix Result
First	Second	Third
António Félix da Costa	Robin Frijns	Mitch Evans
Winner Team	Porsche Formula E Team
Time	36:21.519 (142.185 km/h)
ePrix Guide
Previous		Next
2024 Portland E-Prix I		2024 London E-Prix I
Post-Race Test

The 2024 Portland E-Prix II, officially known as the 2024 Hankook Portland E-Prix I, was the fourteenth race of the 2023/24 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, held at the Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon, USA, on 30 June 2024. The race would see António Félix da Costa secure his third win in a row and fourth in five races, having fended off challenges from Mitch Evans and then Robin Frijns in the closing stages of the race.

Qualifying had seen Jean-Éric Vergne create a little bit of history, the Frenchman sweeping to a record seventeenth pole position in the series after defeating da Costa in the final by a narrow margin of 0.025s. On his run to his record earning feat Vergne would finish second in Group A before defeating title challenger Nick Cassidy and then Frijns, who had topped Group A, while da Costa topped Group B before fending off the challenge of teammate Pascal Wehrlein in the quarter finals, and then Sam Bird in the semi finals.

The start of the race saw da Costa make an excellent getaway, surging past Vergne on the turn to claim the lead, as behind Bird moved up to challenge but had to settle for third. The Brit's teammate Jake Hughes would also feature in the fight at the front, getting involved in a battle between Wehrlein and Evans on the brakes for the first corner, while Cassidy tumbled to fourteenth after trying to stay out of trouble.

Hughes would catch the eye on lap two, sweeping up the rest of the top four to lead, only to be usurped by Sébastien Buemi who had stormed up the order from seventeenth, only to dive into the pits on lap three to serve a drive-through penalty. With that the lead was constantly being exchanged as drivers tried their best to avoid leading for too long and lose energy compared to their rivals, resulting in numerous concertinas and near-misses in the pack.

It was therefore only a matter of time before more serious damage was sustained, and it was title pretender Wehrlein who took the first blow, the #94 Porsche punging the back of Edoardo Mortara and breaking his front wing, although the German pilot was fortunate that the wing came adrift of its own accord. That was less fortunate for Bird, however, who hit the wing and was sent skating across the grass, now with his own broken wing, while Hughes in the sister McLaren-Nissan ran wide at turn one, before removing his front wing on Sacha Fenestraz in his bid to regain lost ground.

The race would continue unabated, however, with the lead continuing to be exchanged between the front half of the field, with Wehrlein rejoining the fight by half-distance still without any front wing at all on the #94 Porsche. His title hopes were then given another boost as Cassidy was sent into the pits with damage, after contact between a quartet of drivers including the Championship leader sent all four drivers into the pitlane.

Mortara was the next driver to suffer, the #48 Mahindra suffering a puncture via contact with da Costa, which sent Mortara limping into the pits and da Costa with a damages front wing. da Costa would continue and with teammate Wehrlein in tow would move to the front of the field once again, only for Frijns to barge past the pair of them moments before the Safety Car was scrambled on lap nineteen due to the sheer amount of carbonfibre littered around Portland.

With the circuit cleared the race resumed with Frijns leading, although he was immediately passed by da Costa who had more energy and was confident he could make it to the end. Evans too was on the warpath, arming his second Attack Mode boost and firing past Wehrlein and then Frijns to try and challenge da Costa, although try as he might the #9 Jaguar could not find a way past the #13 Porsche, and in doing so would burn through the energy advantage he had built.

Frijns duly reclaimed second from Evans and would challenge da Costa through the final couple of laps, but the Portugese ace remained resolute in defence and duly resisted every attempt Frijns could make to claim his third victory in a row and keep up a slim hope of the title. Frijns' 100th E-Prix saw him finish second ahead of Evans, while Wehrlein managed to keep his damaged car out of further trouble to claim fourth ahead of Vergne. Nico Müller was next up ahead of Norman Nato and Maximilian Günther, Buemi recovered to ninth after his early drive-through, while Jake Dennis claimed the final point in tenth as Cassidy failed to score for the second race in succession.

Background

There were no changes made to the Portland International Raceway for the second race of the weekend, with conditions remaining dry and Attack Mode remaining set at two activations lasting for six minutes. Likewise, there were no changes to the entry list, meaning the only modification to the proceedings would be a reduction of racing laps for the second race, down to 28 laps for the second battle of Portland.

Chadwick Charge

Ahead of the second day in Portland it was revealed that Jamie Chadwick, a former FE tester and current Indy NXT pilot, would complete a demo run in the Generation 3 demo car, taking place between qualifying and the second E-Prix of the weekend. It was Chadwick's first run in the Gen 3 car, having previously tested the Spark SRT05e for the NIO Formula E Team during the Gen 2 era, and would see the British racer complete several tours of the Portland circuit at race speed. Chadwick would also get a run in the official Safety Car alongside Andretti Global owner Michael Andretti, with an additional role of supporting the broadcast team as an analyst.

Cassidy's Calamity

Despite throwing away a near certain victory Nick Cassidy would end the opening day in Portland still with a healthy 24 point lead over his closest rival, although the fact that that gap should have been 50 points without that mistake may have consequences over the remaining three races. Pascal Wehrlein had retained second and gained a single point for tenth, inherited courtesy of Cassidy's calamity, while Mitch Evans had moved within three points of the German pilot in third as he kept his title hopes alive. Oliver Rowland was also still in the hunt despite the fact he would miss both of the Portland E-Prix in 2024, with Jake Dennis likewise still in contention along with race winner António Félix da Costa and Jean-Éric Vergne, albeit realistically in a mathematical sense.

Jaguar Racing would head into the second Portland E-Prix still in control of the Teams' Championship, although they had seen their lead trimmed to 55 points after the Cassidy drama. The Porsche Formula E Team had been the ones to close the gap, hoping da Costa's strong form would continue, while the fight for third was now headed by DS Penske, who had jumped Nissan after the first battle of Portland. Their compatriots Andretti Formula E had also moved ahead of the Japanese squad and were just ten behind DS Penske, while at the bottom of the table both ABT Cupra and suppliers Mahindra Racing had moved ahead of the ERT Formula E Team.

In the Manufacturers' Trophy it was Porsche who ended the first E-Prix in Portland on top, the German squad having held onto a 26 point lead over Jaguar as the inaugural Manufacturers' Trophy fight rumbled on. Those two were still pulling clear of Nissan in third, the Japanese firm now some 112 points behind, with Stellantis just twelve behind Nissan in foruth in the scrap to complete the podium. Behind them, Mahindra had opened out a 32 point gap over last placed Electric Racing Technologies after their strongest race of the season.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2024 Portland E-Prix II is displayed below:

2024 Portland E-Prix II Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Car
1	Jake Dennis	Andretti Formula E	Porsche	99X Electric Gen 3
2	Stoffel Vandoorne	DS Penske	DS	E-Tense FE23
3	Sérgio Sette Câmara	ERT Formula E Team	ERT	X24
4	Robin Frijns	Envision Racing	Jaguar	I-Type 6
5	Jake Hughes	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	Nissan	e-4ORCE 04
7	Maximilian Günther	Maserati MSG Racing	Maserati	Tipo Folgore
8	Sam Bird	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	Nissan	e-4ORCE 04
9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar TCS Racing	Jaguar	I-Type 6
11	Lucas di Grassi	ABT Cupra Formula E Team	Mahindra	M10Electro
13	António Félix da Costa	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	Porsche	99X Electric Gen 3
16	Sébastien Buemi	Envision Racing	Jaguar	I-Type 6
17	Norman Nato	Andretti Formula E	Porsche	99X Electric Gen 3
18	Jehan Daruvala	Maserati MSG Racing	Maserati	Tipo Folgore
21	Nyck de Vries	Mahindra Racing	Mahindra	M10Electro
22	Caio Collet	Nissan Formula E Team	Nissan	e-4ORCE 04
23	Sacha Fenestraz	Nissan Formula E Team	Nissan	e-4ORCE 04
25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Penske	DS	E-Tense FE23
33	Dan Ticktum	ERT Formula E Team	ERT	X24
37	Nick Cassidy	Jaguar TCS Racing	Jaguar	I-Type 6
48	Edoardo Mortara	Mahindra Racing	Mahindra	M10Electro
51	Nico Müller	ABT Cupra Formula E Team	Mahindra	M10Electro
94	Pascal Wehrlein	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	Porsche	99X Electric Gen 3
Source:

Qualifying

Qualifying for the 2024 Portland E-Prix II would be conducted according to the knockout format, introduced ahead of season eight. The field would be split into two groups of eleven drivers, based on Championship position, with each group then getting ten minutes on track to complete as many laps as they wished at 300 kW. The fastest eight overall would then proceed to the knockout phase, now running at the maximum 350 kW qualifying mode, with the fastest from group A against the fourth fastest from group A and so on, until four drivers were left.

Those four would move on to the Semi-Final, with the winner of A1/A4 taking on the victor of A2/A3, while the triumphant driver of B3/B2 would take on B4/B1's winner. The winners from those duels would then go into the final, with the winner of that duel taking pole ahead of the runner-up, with any grid penalties applied after the conclusion of the duel.

Post Qualifying

The final qualifying result for the 2024 Portland E-Prix II are outlined below:

2024 Portland E-Prix II Qualifying Results
Final
Heat	Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
I	Win	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Penske	1:08.779 (168.592 km/h)	—	1
	Lose	13	António Félix da Costa	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	1:08.804 (168.531 km/h)	+0.025s	2
Semi-Finals
Heat	Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
I	Win	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Penske	1:08.862 (168.389 km/h)	—	F
	Lose	4	Robin Frijns	Envision Racing	1:09.081 (167.855 km/h)	+0.219s	4
II	Win	13	António Félix da Costa	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	1:08.856 (168.404 km/h)	—	F
	Lose	8	Sam Bird	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	1:08.990 (168.077 km/h)	+0.134s	3
Quarter Finals
Heat	Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
QF 1	Win	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Penske	1:08.875 (168.357 km/h)	—	SF
	Lose	37	Nick Cassidy	Jaguar TCS Racing	1:09.016 (168.013 km/h)	+0.141s	6
QF 2	Win	4	Robin Frijns	Envision Racing	1:08.819 (168.494 km/h)	—	SF
	Lose	5	Jake Hughes	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	1:08.833 (168.460 km/h)	+0.014s	5
QF 3	Win	8	Sam Bird	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	1:09.138 (167.717 km/h)	—	SF
	Lose	21	Nyck de Vries	Mahindra Racing	1:09.330 (167.252 km/h)	+0.192s	8
QF 4	Win	13	António Félix da Costa	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	1:08.750 (168.663 km/h)	—	SF
	Lose	94	Pascal Wehrlein	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	1:09.123 (167.753 km/h)	+0.373s	7

Group Stage
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid	Group
1st	4	Robin Frijns	Envision Racing	1:09.665	—	QF 2	GA
2nd	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Penske	1:09.677	+0.012s	QF 1	GA
3rd	13	António Félix da Costa	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	1:09.726	+0.061s	QF 4	GB
4th	37	Nick Cassidy	Jaguar TCS Racing	1:09.737	+0.072s	QF 1	GA
5th	5	Jake Hughes	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	1:09.755	+0.090s	QF 2	GA
6th	18	Jehan Daruvala	Maserati MSG Racing	1:09.758	+0.093s	9	GA
7th	8	Sam Bird	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	1:09.785	+0.120s	QF 3	GB
8th	21	Nyck de Vries	Mahindra Racing	1:09.810	+0.145s	QF 3	GB
9th	9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar TCS Racing	1:09.821	+0.156s	11	GA
10th	51	Nico Müller	ABT Cupra	1:09.836	+0.171s	13	GA
11th	94	Pascal Wehrlein	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	1:09.853	+0.188s	QF 4	GB
12th	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	DS Penske	1:09.857	+0.192s	10	GB
13th	33	Dan Ticktum	ERT Formula E Team	1:09.869	+0.204s	15	GA
14th	48	Edoardo Mortara	Mahindra Racing	1:09.885	+0.220s	12	GB
15th	23	Sacha Fenestraz	Nissan Formula E Team	1:09.906	+0.241s	14	GB
16th	16	Sébastien Buemi	Envision Racing	1:09.913	+0.248s	17	GA
17th	3	Sérgio Sette Câmara	ERT Formula E Team	1:09.979	+0.314s	16	GB
18th	1	Jake Dennis	Andretti Formula E	1:09.983	+0.318s	18	GB
19th	11	Lucas di Grassi	ABT Cupra	1:09.998	+0.333s	19	GA
20th	7	Maximilian Günther	Maserati MSG Racing	1:10.005	+0.340s	21	GA
21st	17	Norman Nato	Andretti Formula E	1:10.015	+0.350s	20	GB
22nd	22	Caio Collet	Nissan Formula E Team	1:10.061	+0.396s	22	GB
Group A 110% Time: 1:16.631
Group B 110% Time: 1:16.698
Source:

Race

Result

The final classification of the 2024 Portland E-Prix II is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the pole sitter shown in bold.

2024 Portland E-Prix II Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	13	António Félix da Costa	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	27	36:21.519	1:11.062	25
2nd	4	Robin Frijns	Envision Racing	27	+0.332s	1:10.650	19
3rd	9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar TCS Racing	27	+3.194s	1:11.399	15
4th	94	Pascal Wehrlein	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	27	+3.262s	1:11.438	12
5th	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Penske	27	+3.683s	1:11.581	13
6th	51	Nico Müller	ABT Cupra	27	+3.785s	1:11.365	8
7th	17	Norman Nato	Andretti Formula E	27	+4.887s	1:11.569	6
8th	7	Maximilian Günther	Maserati MSG Racing	27	+5.692s	1:11.648	4
9th	16	Sébastien Buemi	Envision Racing	27	+6.250s	1:11.242	2
10th	1	Jake Dennis	Andretti Formula E	27	+6.840s	1:11.231	1
11th	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	DS Penske	27	+7.490s	1:11.429
12th	18	Jehan Daruvala	Maserati MSG Racing	27	+7.928s	1:11.501
13th	37	Nick Cassidy	Jaguar TCS Racing	27	+8.078s	1:11.457
14th	3	Sérgio Sette Câmara	ERT Formula E Team	27	+10.044s	1:12.264
15th	33	Dan Ticktum	ERT Formula E Team	27	+10.111s	1:12.051
16th	22	Caio Collet	Nissan Formula E Team	27	+11.290s	1:11.757
17th*	11	Lucas di Grassi	ABT Cupra	27	+12.575s	1:11.864
18th†	23	Sacha Fenestraz	Nissan Formula E Team	27	+20.628s	1:12.256
Ret	48	Edoardo Mortara	Mahindra Racing	24	Puncture	1:11.890
Ret	8	Sam Bird	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	20	Damage	1:12.968
Ret	21	Nyck de Vries	Mahindra Racing	20	Damage	1:12.074
Ret	5	Jake Hughes	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	12	Damage	1:13.490
Source:

• * di Grassi served a five second time penalty for .
• ^† Fenestraz served a five second time penalty for forcing Hughes off track during the race.

Milestones

• 100th E-Prix for Robin Frijns.
• Jean-Éric Vergne set a new record for most pole positions - 17.
• António Félix da Costa secured his twelfth victory.
• Porsche Formula E Team earned their eleventh win as an entrant.
  • Porsche claimed their fourteenth win as a powertrain supplier.

Standings

Nick Cassidy had retained the lead of the Championship leaving Portland, although the New Zealander's complete failure to score at all in the US had meant that his lead had been cut to a vulnerable twelve points. Two drivers would be within that margin, Cassidy's own teammate Mitch Evans as well as Pascal Wehrlein, while the German racer's teammate António Félix da Costa, the man in form, was also still in contention, but faced a 33 point gap. Indeed, while Cassidy's lead was vulnerable he would still enter the penultimate race in London with a serious shot at securing the title, with victory and Evans and Wehrlein finishing lower than fifth, without bonus points in play enough to earn him the crown.

Likewise, the Teams' Championship would also be heading to its conclusion at the finale in London, with Jaguar Racing still heading the hunt, but with a reduced lead of 33 points over their closest challengers. Indeed, the Porsche Formula E Team, like their drivers, would head to London with a major chance of the title, particularly given that there were still 94 points on offer in London, although a max-score for Jaguar would settle the issue in the first race. Behind, DS Penske had held third over their compatriots Andretti Formula E, the first of the customer teams in the field, while the Nissan Formula E Team had endured their worst weekend of the season and slipped to fifth.

Equally tight would be the Manufacturers' Trophy as the series left the US, with Porsche retaining the lead on 407 points, but with a slim margin of nineteen over Jaguar in second. Indeed, the two manufacturers had rarely been separated by more than 20 points throughout the season, and with both having four cars in play in London either could still win the inaugural manufacturers' crown at the finale. Behind Stellantis had overhauled Nissan for third, with just five separating them in the battle for the podium, while Mahindra seemed to have dealt a serious blow to Electric Racing Technologies in their fight for fifth.

 

2023/24 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Nick Cassidy 167 ◄0 2nd Mitch Evans 155 ▲1 3rd Pascal Wehrlein 155 ▼1 4th António Félix da Costa 134 ▲3 5th Oliver Rowland 131 ▼1 6th Jean-Éric Vergne 129 ◄0 7th Jake Dennis 122 ▼2 8th Maximilian Günther 73 ◄0 9th Robin Frijns 60 ▲3 10th Stoffel Vandoorne 55 ▼1 11th Jake Hughes 46 ▼1 12th Norman Nato 46 ▲1 13th Sam Bird 44 ▼2 14th Nico Müller 36 ◄0 15th Sébastien Buemi 26 ▲1 16th Sacha Fenestraz 26 ▼1 17th Edoardo Mortara 19 ◄0 18th Dan Ticktum 12 ◄0 19th Sérgio Sette Câmara 11 ◄0 20th Jehan Daruvala 8 ◄0 21st Nyck de Vries 6 ◄0 22nd Taylor Barnard 5 ◄0 23rd Joel Eriksson 2 ◄0 24th Lucas di Grassi 2 ◄0 25th Kelvin van der Linde 0 ◄0 26th Jordan King 0 ◄0 27th Paul Aron 0 ◄0 28th Caio Collet 0 ◄0

2023/24 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Jaguar Racing 322 ◄0 2nd Porsche Formula E Team 289 ◄0 3rd DS Penske 184 ◄0 4th Andretti Formula E 168 ◄0 5th Nissan Formula E Team 157 ◄0 6th McLaren Formula E Team 95 ◄0 7th Envision Racing 88 ▲1 8th Maserati MSG Racing 81 ▼1 9th ABT Cupra 38 ◄0 10th Mahindra Racing 25 ◄0 11th ERT Formula E Team 23 ◄0 2023/24 Manufacturers' Trophy Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Porsche 407 ◄0 2nd Jaguar 388 ◄0 3rd Stellantis 247 ▲1 4th Nissan 242 ▼1 5th Mahindra 63 ◄0 6th ERT 23 ◄0

References

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